Search Results (68)

Objective: In some regions of the globe, accidental food confusion regarding plants can cause severe poisoning events and deaths. The aim of this study was to report on those confusions from the Marseille Poison Control Centre’s (PCC) experience from 2002 to 2023. Results: Over 22 years, 2197 food confusion events were managed with 321 different species. The most frequently involved plant was Nerium oleander (289 cases, 13.1%), then Cucurbitaceae genus (3.3%), Colchicum autumnale (3.3%), Prunus amygdalus (3%), Mahinot esculenta (3%), Cytisus laburnum (2.6%), Aesculus hippocastanum (2.5%) and Narcissus Jonquilla (2%). Many botanical confusion events were also reported (n = 1386, 63%), but with fewer than five identical species. Only one death was reported for this review, in an event involving Aconitum napellus. Two antidotes were used for all the series: Datura genus and Prunus dulcis. Discussion: The most implicated plant was Nerium oleander. This is explained by its distribution. This rate is very low compared to that of suicide attempts with this plant. Many cases were symptomatic (53.6%), but very few of them described severe symptoms (only 0.5% severe poisonings). Few patients needed to be admitted to intensive care (0.4%), and even fewer needed an antidote (two cases). Only one death occurred, involving Aconitum napellus. Food confusions were more common than suicide attempts with plants, but seem to be less severe. However, death and serious complications can occur, so it is important to identify and manage the plants concerned. Material and Methods: For each food confusion event managed between 2002 and 2023 at the Southeastern France PCC based in Marseille, we performed a retrospective review. This PCC is responsible for the Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur Region, Corsica Island and Indian Ocean French overseas territories. For each case, severity was calculated with the Poison Severity Score (PSS). Full article

Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is a devastating disease of potato. Our previous work illustrated that scopolamine, the main bioactive substance of Datura extract, exerts direct inhibitory effects on P. infestans, but it is unclear whether scopolamine and Datura extract can boost resistance to late blight in potato. In this study, P. infestans is used to infect scopolamine-treated potato pieces and leaves, as well as whole potatoes. We found that scopolamine-treated potato is resistant to P. infestans both in vitro and in vivo. The treatment of 4.5 g/L scopolamine reduces the lesion size of whole potato to 54% compared with the control after 20 d of the infection of P. infestans. The disease-resistant substance detection based on the kit method shows that scopolamine triggers the upregulation of polyphenoloxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase activities, and H₂O₂ contents in potato tubers, and the decline of phenylalanine ammonia lyase and catalase activity. A total of 1682 significantly differentially expressed genes were detected with or without scopolamine treatment through high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and the DESeq2 software (version 1.24.0), including 705 upregulated and 977 downregulated genes. Scopolamine may affect the genes functioning in the cell wall, membrane and the plant-pathogen interaction. The addition of Datura extract could directly inhibit the mycelial growth of P. infestans on rye plate medium. In addition, P. infestans was found to be resistant to late blight in potato pieces treated with Datura extract. Datura extract can also be utilized in combination with the chemical fungicide Infinito in field experiments to lessen late blight symptoms and enhance potato yield. To our knowledge, this is the first study to detect the induction of disease resistance by scopolamine, and it also explores the feasibility of Datura extract in potato disease resistance. Full article

Cancer remains a significant challenge, prompting the exploration of new therapies. Breast cancer is the most prevalent among women, and current medications often have serious side effects. Additionally, there is limited research on natural resources that have historically provided bioactive compounds with potential anti-cancer properties. This study examines two such resources—Cannabis sativa and Datura metel L.—both known for their pharmacological diversity and traditional medicinal use. Cannabis sativa, with its major constituents Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), has garnered considerable interest. Datura metel L., despite its toxicity, contains alkaloids like scopolamine and withametelin, which have shown cytotoxic properties against cancer cells. This study selected five breast cancer-related receptors, docking them against various phytoconstituents in both plants to identify potent cytotoxic entities. Target proteins were extracted from the PDB database, and docking studies were performed using AutoDock software. The docking scores of the phytochemicals were then compared with one another. The docking studies on Cannabis sativa revealed that apigenin (−8.15), β-caryophyllene oxide (−8.35), THCA (−8.84), epicatechin (−8.18), and vitexin (−9.58) showed good interaction with the PARP receptor (PDB ID: 5DS3), while cannabidiol (−8.38) and cannabichromene (−8.36) showed strong interactions with CDK4/6 (PDB ID: 6GS7). Additionally, strychnine (−9.99), naringin (−9.19), and luteolin (−8) demonstrated good interactions with the estrogen receptor (PDB ID: 3ERT). In the case of Datura metel L., withametelin (−10.69) and dinoxin B (−10.72) showed good interactions with the estrogen receptor (PDB ID: 3ERT), and scopolamine (−8.24) with CDK4/6 (PDB ID: 6GS7). These findings suggest that these phytoconstituents possess anti-cancer activities. Full article

Jimson weed (Datura stramonium L.) is a toxic weed that is occasionally found in fields with common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) for the processing industry. Common bean growers are required to manually remove toxic weeds. If toxic weed plants remain, the standing crop will be rejected. Hence, the implementation of an automatic weed detection system aiding the farmers is badly needed. The overall goal of this study was to investigate if D. stramonium can be located in common bean fields using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based ten-band multispectral camera. Therefore four objectives were defined: (I) assessing the spectral discriminative capacity between common bean and D. stramonium by the development and application of logistic regression models; (II) examining the influence of ground sampling distance (GSD) on model performance; and improving model generalization by (III) incorporating the use of vegetation indices and cumulative distribution function (CDF) matching and by (IV) combining spectral data from multiple common bean fields with the use of leave-one-group-out cross-validation (LOGO CV). Logistic regression models were created using data from fields at four different locations in Belgium. Based on the results, it was concluded that common bean and D. stramonium are separable based on multispectral information. A model trained and tested on the data of one location obtained a validation true positive rate and true negative rate of 99% and 95%, respectively. In this study, where D. stramonium had a mean plant size of 0.038 m² ($\sigma$ = 0.020), a GSD of 2.1 cm was found to be appropriate. However, the results proved to be location dependent as the model was not able to reliably distinguish D. stramonium in two other datasets. Finally, the use of a LOGO CV obtained the best results. Although small D. stramonium plants were still systematically overlooked and classified as common bean, the model was capable of detecting large D. stramonium plants on three of the four fields. This study emphasizes the variability in reflectance data among different common bean fields and the importance of an independent dataset to test model generalization. Full article

Silver oxide (Ag₂O) particles are wonderful candidates due to their unique properties, and their use in a wide range of research, industrial and biomedical applications is rapidly increasing. This makes it fundamental to develop simple, environmentally friendly methods with possible scaling. Herein, sodium borohydride and Datura innoxia leaf extract were applied as chemical and biological stabilizing and reducing agents to develop Ag₂O particles. The primary aim was to evaluate the anticancer and antiviral activity of Ag₂O particles prepared via two methods. XRD, UV-visible and SEM analyses were used to examine the crystallite structure, optical properties and morphology, respectively. The resulting green-synthesized Ag₂O particles exhibited small size, spherically agglomerated shape, and high anticancer and antiviral activities compared to chemically synthesized Ag₂O particles. The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium-bromide) assay of green-synthesized Ag₂O particles showed high anticancer activity against MCF-7 cells with IC₅₀ = 17.908 µg/mL compared to chemically synthesized Ag₂O particles with IC₅₀ = 23.856 µg/mL. The antiviral activity of green-synthesized Ag₂O particles and chemically synthesized Ag₂O particles was also evaluated by a plaque-forming assay, and green-synthesized Ag₂O particles showed higher antiviral ability with IC₅₀ = 0.618 µg/mL as compared to chemically synthesized Ag₂O particles with IC₅₀ = 6.129 µg/mL. We propose the use of green-synthesized Ag₂O particles in cancer treatment and drug delivery. Full article

Scopolamine and atropine are two medicinal alkaloids derived from Datura stramonium L. with anticholinergic properties. This study explored how methyl jasmonate (MJ), a plant growth regulator, affects the biosynthesis and accumulation of these alkaloids in different plant tissues. The expression levels of putrescine N-methyltransferase (PMT), tropinone reductase I (TR1), and hyoscyamine 6β-hydroxylase (h6h), three critical enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway, were also analyzed. The results indicated that MJ at 150 µM increased the production of scopolamine and atropine in both leaves and roots, while MJ at 300 µM had an adverse effect. Furthermore, MJ enhanced the expression of PMT, TR1, and h6h genes in the roots, the primary site of alkaloid synthesis, but not in the leaves, the primary site of alkaloid storage. These results imply that MJ can be applied to regulate the biosynthesis and accumulation of scopolamine and atropine in D. stramonium, thereby improving their production efficiency. Full article

When colonizing new ranges, plant populations may benefit from the absence of the checks imposed by the enemies, herbivores, and pathogens that regulated their numbers in their original range. Therefore, rates of plant damage or infestation by natural enemies are expected to be lower in the new range. Exposing both non-native and native plant populations in the native range, where native herbivores are present, can be used to test whether resistance mechanisms have diverged between populations. Datura stramonium is native to the Americas but widely distributed in Spain, where populations show lower herbivore damage than populations in the native range. We established experiments in two localities in the native range (Mexico), exposing two native and two non-native D. stramonium populations to natural herbivores. Plant performance differed between the localities, as did the abundance of the main specialist herbivore, Lema daturaphila. In Teotihuacán, where L. daturaphila is common, native plants had significantly more adult beetles and herbivore damage than non-native plants. The degree of infestation by the specialist seed predator Trichobaris soror differed among populations and between sites, but the native Ticumán population always had the lowest level of infestation. The Ticumán population also had the highest concentration of the alkaloid scopolamine. Scopolamine was negatively related to the number of eggs deposited by L. daturaphila in Teotihuacán. There was among-family variation in herbivore damage (resistance), alkaloid content (scopolamine), and infestation by L. daturaphila and T. soror, indicating genetic variation and potential for further evolution. Although native and non-native D. stramonium populations have not yet diverged in plant resistance/constitutive defense, the differences between ranges (and the two experimental sites) in the type and abundance of herbivores suggest that further research is needed on the role of resource availability and adaptive plasticity, specialized metabolites (induced, constitutive), and the relationship between genealogical origin and plant defense in both ranges. Full article

Datura stramonium is an invasive herb of the family Solanaceae from Mexico and has been invading seriously in China. The effects of invasive plants on the functional traits of native plants and the stoichiometric characteristics of soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in different habitats were explored by taking the invasive plant D. stramonium and coexisting native plants as the research object. The species, quantity and height of plants in sample plots in farmland, wasteland and roadside habitats were investigated and the specific leaf area (SLA), leaf carbon content (C), nitrogen content (N), carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N), construction cost (CC_mass) and stoichiometric characteristics of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were analyzed. The results showed that compared with the noninvaded area, the species and quantity of native plants decreased in the invaded area, and SLA and leaf N showed a decreasing trend. The plant height of native plants in the invaded area of the farmland and wasteland decreased by 23.19% and 15.26%, respectively, while the height of native plants along the roadside increased by 95.91%. The leaf C:N ratio of native plants in the invaded area along the roadside significantly increased by 54.07%. The plant height and leaf N of D. stramonium in the three habitats were higher than those of the native plants. The soil N in the invaded area of the three habitats increased, with the soil N in the farmland increasing by 21.05%, in the wasteland increasing by 9.82% and along the roadside significantly increasing by 46.85%. The soil carbon-to-phosphorus ratio (C:P) in the three habitats showed an increasing trend. The soil C:P ratio in the farmland increased by 62.45%, in the wasteland it increased by 11.91% and along the roadside it significantly increased by 71.14%. These results showed that invasion by D. stramonium has a great effect on the local ecosystem, and it has a high ability to capture resources. D. stramonium can improve its own competitiveness by enhancing invasiveness by changing the functional traits of native plants and the stoichiometric characteristics of soil C, N and P, which may be the reason for its invasive success. Full article

Introduction: In a few regions of the globe, deliberate botanical intoxication may induce significant rates of toxicity and fatality. The objective of this report was to describe plant self-intoxication using the experiences of the southeastern France poison control center (PCC) between 2002 and 2021. Results: During those 20 years, 262 deliberate plants poisonings were reported involving 35 various plants. In most of the cases, poisoning was caused by Nerium oleander (n = 186, 71%), followed by the Datura genus (4.2%), Ricinus communis (3.8%), Taxus baccata (1.9%), Digitalis purpurea (1.2%), Aconitum nape (1.9%), Myristica fragans (1.5%), and Pyracantha coccine (1.2%). Through the 262 plants poisonings, 19 patients among the 186 Nerium oleander poisonings received Digifab as an antidote and 1 patient received physostigmine among the 11 Datura poisonings. Only four deaths were reported for this review, each involving Nerium oleander. Discussion: The first involved species was Nerium oleander (71% of all plants poisonings), then Datura sp and Ricinus communis. It is explained by this native local species’ important repartition. Most patients must be admitted to an emergency department for adapted medical care; however, only 41 of them described severe poisonings symptoms. Even fewer needed an antidote, only 20 patients. There is no protocol for the use of a specific treatment, and it might be interesting to develop one for this purpose. Material and Methods: This retrospective review was realized with files managed by the southeastern France PCC based in Marseille from 2002 to 2021. Our department covers the complete French Mediterranean coast, Corsica, and tropical islands (Reunion Island, Mayotte). For every patient, toxicity was evaluated using the Poison Severity Score (PSS). Full article

The aim of this study was to investigate specific management methods for controlling weeds under different climate conditions by reducing the risk of herbicide resistance in maize. Herbicide trials were placed at two locations during 2017 and 2018 and organized in a randomized block design with four replicates of all herbicide combinations (terbuthylazine—pre-emergence and mesotrione post-emergence treatment, terbuthylazine + mesotrione in post-emergence treatment, and terbuthylazine—pre-emergence and dicamba in post-emergence treatment). In the trials, 13 specific weeds were observed. High effectiveness was achieved when using commercial preparations with two active ingredients (terbuthylazine and mesotrione) in both years of research. As the year 2018 featured a higher amount of precipitation, uneven weed sprouting occurred, which resulted in a large number of Setaria glauca (18.50 No m⁻²), Solanum nigrum (16.50 No m⁻²), Datura stramonium (13.75 No m⁻²), and Chenopodium hybridum (10.50 No m⁻²) plants. Herbicide phytotoxicity was not expressed in maize. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Solanum nigrum, and Datura stramonium had the highest competitive index (CI 10). The highest maize yield was observed under the application of terbuthylazine + mesotrione in post-emergence (14.223 t/ha). This combination led to the highest weed control costs (35.60 EUR/ha) in 2018, while in 2017, the yield was 12.829 t/ha, with a control cost of 33.99 EUR/ha. Full article

The transmission of insect-borne viruses involves sophisticated interactions between viruses, host plants, and vectors. Chemical compounds play an important role in these interactions. Several studies reported that the plant virus tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) increases host plant quality for its vector and benefits the vector thrips Frankliniella occidentalis. However, few studies have investigated the chemical ecology of thrips vectors, TSWV, and host plants. Here, we demonstrated that in TSWV-infected host plant Datura stramonium, (1) F. occidentalis were more attracted to feeding on TSWV-infected D. stramonium; (2) atropine and scopolamine, the main tropane alkaloids in D. stramonium, which are toxic to animals, were down-regulated by TSWV infection of the plant; and (3) F. occidentalis had better biological performance (prolonged adult longevity and increased fecundity, resulting in accelerated population growth) on TSWV-infected D. stramonium than on TSWV non-infected plants. These findings provide in-depth information about the physiological mechanisms responsible for the virus’s benefits to its vector by virus infection of plant regulating alkaloid accumulation in the plant. Full article

Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is closely related to plant photosynthetic activity and has been used in different studies as a proxy for vegetation health status. However, in order to use SIF as a relevant indicator of plant physiological stress, it is necessary to accurately quantify the amount of light absorbed by the photosynthetic plant pigments, called the absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR). The ratio between fluorescence emission and light absorption (i.e., SIF and APAR) is known as the fluorescence quantum efficiency (FQE). In this work, simultaneous measurements of SIF and reflected radiance were performed both at the leaf and canopy levels for Salvia farinacea and Datura stramonium plants. With the aim of disentangling the proportion of sunlit and shaded absorbed PAR, an ad hoc experimental setup was designed to provide a wide range of fraction vegetation cover (FVC) canopy settings. A linear spectral unmixing method was proposed to estimate the contribution of soil, sunlit, and shaded vegetation from the total reflectance spectrum measured at the canopy level. Later, the retrieved sunlit FVC (FVC_sunlit) was used to estimate the (dominant) green APAR flux, and this was combined with the integral of the spectrally resolved fluorescence to calculate the FQE. The results of this study demonstrated that under no-stress conditions and independently of the FVC, similar FQE values were observed when SIF was properly normalised by the green APAR flux. The results obtained showed that the reflectance spectra retrieved using a linear unmixing method had a maximum RMSE of less than 0.03 along the spectrum. The FVC_sunlit evaluation showed an RMSE of 14% with an R² of 0.84. Moreover, the FQE values obtained at the top of the canopy (TOC) were found statistically comparable to the reference values at the leaf level. These results support further efforts to improve the interpretation of fluorescence based on field spectroscopy and the further upscaling to imaging spectroscopy at airborne and satellite levels. Full article

Macroevolutionary patterns in the association between plant species and their herbivores result from ecological divergence promoted by, among other factors, plants’ defenses and nutritional quality, and herbivore adaptations. Here, we assessed the performance of the herbivores Lema trilineata daturaphila, a trophic specialist on Datura, and Spodoptera frugiperda, a polyphagous pest herbivore, when fed with species of Datura. We used comparative phylogenetics and multivariate methods to examine the effects of Datura species’ tropane alkaloids, leaf trichomes, and plant macronutrients on the two herbivores´ performances (amount of food consumed, number of damaged leaves, larval biomass increment, and larval growth efficiency). The results indicate that species of Datura do vary in their general suitability as food host for the two herbivores. Overall, the specialist performs better than the generalist herbivore across Datura species, and performance of both herbivores is associated with suites of plant defenses and nutrient characteristics. Leaf trichomes and major alkaloids of the Datura species are strongly related to herbivores’ food consumption and biomass increase. Although hyoscyamine better predicts the key components of the performance of the specialist herbivore, scopolamine better predicts the performance of the generalist; however, only leaf trichomes are implicated in most performance components of the two herbivores. Nutrient quality more widely predicts the performance of the generalist herbivore. The contrasting effects of plant traits and the performances of herbivores could be related to adaptive differences to cope with plant toxins and achieve nutrient balance and evolutionary trade-offs and synergisms between plant traits to deal with a diverse community of herbivores. Full article

The present study investigated the antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities of different aerial parts (flowers, leaves and seeds) of Datura stramonium. The plant material was extracted with 80% methanol for about 24 h. The sensitivity to microorganisms analysis was performed by the microdilution technique. Antioxidant tests were performed by scavenging the DPPH and ABTS radicals, and by FRAP assay. Anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated through the inhibition of nitric oxide production in activated macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. Cell viability was assessed with an MTT assay. Results show that the flower extract revealed a powerful antimicrobial capacity against Gram-positive bacteria and strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. No significant cytotoxicity to activated macrophages was recorded. High resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis identified two molecules with important anti-inflammatory effects: 12α-hydroxydaturametelin B and daturametelin B. Molecular docking analysis with both pro-inflammatory agents tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 revealed that both compounds showed good binding features with the selected target proteins. Our results suggest that D. stramonium flower is a promising source of compounds with potential antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities. Isolated withanolide steroidal lactones from D. stramonium flower extract with promising anti-inflammatory activity have therapeutic potential against inflammatory disorders. Full article